life can turn terrifying in an instant. you're locked in a high-speed battle with a raging driver. >> he's like next to me at 100 miles per hour. >> a deadly tornado takes aim at your house. >> we are in it! >> an avalanche of humanity threatens to bury you alive. s even ordinary routines can become struggles to stay alive. survival is not a game. but you do need a game plan. you've got multiple options, but only seconds to choose. what will be your split second decision? we've seen the aftermath of

tornados. cars lifted by winds, schools destroyed, entire neighborhoods wiped out. true or false? the united states records the highest number of tornadoes in the world. the answer is true. an average of more than 1,200 a year for the past 20 years, and nearly 1,700 tornados in 2011. no country hosts as many tornadoes as the u.s., especially in tornado alley, an area in the central plains stretching from texas to south dakota. >> the middle of the united states is the perfect place for making severe weather. we have all the ingredients you need as far as instability, moisture, sheer to breed severe weather. >> and once mother nature unleashes her wrath, there are few places to hide, including your own home. >> we are in the tornado! we are in the tornado!

we are in the tornado! >> holy moly! >> november 17th, 2013. in washington, illinois, mark wells is in his home with his daughter josie. he opens his porch door and finds a juggernaut heading straight for his house. >> josey and i went out to the poor taj see the direction it was coming and sure enough, saw rotation. >> now put yourself in mark's shoes. you're at a porch door, facing down a tornado. what split second decision should you make? a, get in your car and try to find a more open area. b, get back inside and open windows to equalize air pressure. or, c, take shelter in a bathroom -- basement or lower floor bathroom? >> in a tornado, most of the deaths are vehicle related.

opening the windows won't do any good, if the tornado is to open the windows for you, you don't have to worry about pressure differences from the tornadic winds will take out your windows anyway. >> the correct answer is, c, take cover in your basement or bathtub in a low-lying area or bathroom. with only seconds before impact, mark joins his daughter in their storm shelter. >> oh, my god! [ bleep ]! oh, my god, josie.

>> that was probably the scariest thing is that sound and not knowing what's going on. it was just kind of gut wrenching. >> holy moly! >> when mark emerges from the shelter, the true force of the tornado can be assessed. >> our house is freakin' destroyed, josie. oh, my god. >> what are we going to do? >> i don't know. oh, jesus h! i'm in shock. i can't believe this happened. oh, my god, josie, the neighbors' houses are gone. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! >> you have survived a tornado's direct hit on your home. in the aftermath, what action should you take? a, stay inside your house until help arrives. b, evacuate the area as soon as you're sure the tornado has passed.

or c, shut off the gas to stop gas leaks. >> josie! holy [ bleep ]! we got to get outside before the structure falls where it's safe. >> staying inside an unstable home is not a good option. how about evacuating the area? >> i see no need to jump in a vehicle and drive somewhere else. the tornado is moving away from you so the threat is pretty much over. >> plus by leaving your home area, you can block access for emergency personnel. your best action answer is c. >> if you smell gas and the house is still relatively intact and the gas lines aren't broken, turning off the gas is probably a good idea. you don't want leaking gas around your house. >> when i first got to washington and started surveying the damage, it's kind of surreal. you realize that this is real

life, but it looks like a movie set. you have got stuff literally everywhere. the trees were gone. the homes were gone. there was no electricity. you're kind of just like, wow, these people lived through this when there's nothing anymore. >> mark wells' house and belongings were completely levelled by the central illinois twister of 2013, as were 500 other homes. but mark knows it could have been worse if not for his quick decisions. if you find yourself in a twister's path, the following tips may just help you weather the storm -- seek shelter in a basement or bathroom. try not to leave your home in a car, and shut off the gas. never try to outrun a tornado. they can move up to 60 miles per hour. >> mother nature is pretty

intense. just within seconds it can just destroy everything just like that. the road can be an angry place. >> you got a problem? >> [ bleep ]! >> and it seems like there's more road rage now more than ever. [ horn honking ] in 2014, aaa says more than 8 million people in the u.s. engaged in road rage by ramming another vehicle or exiting their car to confront another driver. >> you better stop. >> remember everyone's trying to get to their destination or get home to go see their family members. you never know what type of day that person has or had or what they're going through. make sure you don't take someone else's action to heart. >> good advice but too late for 23-year-old ronnie gonzalez. he's riding his motorcycle to homestead, florida while filming with his head camera.

he splits lanes, which is illegal in the state and seems to enrage a driver. >> when the light turns green a as i clutch out and start going forward to go on, he aggressively comes on my side and then passes me, you know, fast. in my head i'm like, i'm on a motorcycle. i don't understand the necessity to do this. as he goes ahead of me, i'm kind of agitated. as that happened, he gets up and he cuts traffic off. at that point, he's like opened the door and has his whole body out, and it looks like he's going to come out. and he looks at me with a stern face, and then i just smack his mirror. >> tensions are about to boil over. >> coming up, the road rage begins to spin out of control.

>> he's like next to me at 100 miles per hour. >> and later, an expectant parent's harrowing ordeal. you're nowhere near a hospital and the baby is here. why are you still putting up with complicated cash back cards? some cards limit where you earn bonus cash back to places they choose... then they change those places every few months. quicksilver keeps it simple. with quicksilver you always earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. 'tis the season for simple. what's in your wallet?

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he wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. with his army shirt looking all nice. and then people just say, "thank you for serving our country" and i'm like, that's my dad.

male vo: no one deserves a warmer welcome home. that's why we're hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. i'm very proud of him. male vo: comcast. the anger starts with some lane splitting by motorcyclist ronnie gonzalez. the maneuver involves cutting between two lanes of traffic, which is illegal in florida. >> at that point, he opens his door and has his whole body out and looks like he's going to come out. >> just watch, it soon escalates to dangerous actions with the other driver.

you're on a motorcycle locked in a confrontation with an irate driver. what's your first move? a, speed up to get away. b, back off and give the other driver space. or c, pull over and try to talk things out with the driver. if your instinct is to floor it, your instinct is wrong. >> when people speed up to get away, that creates an adrenaline rush for the person who is chasing. so it's almost like a cat and mouse game now. >> plus speeding up only puts you at greater risk of getting into an accident. so a is not a good option. what about diffusing the situation by pulling over? >> anytime you do have an irate driver, you never want to engage with them. that is just going to further increase the problem. >> the answer is, b, back off and give the antagonist the space to calm down.

>> the best thing you can do if someone is near you on the roadway screaming or yelling and you're in fear for yourself, the best thing you can do is create distance and time. >> unfortunately, ronnie chooses to flee through oncoming traffic. >> i'm like, oh, my god, this is insane. i can't believe this is happening. i just -- my heart was racing, it was pounding. i had so much adrenaline running through me. >> [ bleep ]! >> people really need to step back and remember that though they may feel angry right now they don't want those actions to lead to something that they have to think about the rest of their life. >> true or false? although we don't know what trigged these drivers' dangerous behaviors, occasionally erupting in rage due to what should be minor stresses is a recognized psychiatric condition. it's true. it's called intermittent explosive disorder. and according to the national institute of mental health, as much as 7.3% of the u.s.

population experiences it. >> we think about intermittent explosive disorder. we're talking about people who overreact to small situations and they react with uncontrollable rage. this is a very serious condition, and in the situation of road rage, we don't have the luxury of knowing who has ied or who has just the regular anger or frustration. >> but ronnie gonzalez is still right in the middle of the fight. >> he's like next to me at 100 miles an hour, exchanging words at me, spitting at me. i feel like it's a horror movie. he just keeps coming and coming. >> you're still being pursued by an angry road rager and are in fear for your life. you've already called 911.

what is your next best action? a, turn into a public place like a police station or a mall. b, call friends or family for help. or c, drive home and lock yourself inside. your best option is, a. driving home or recruiting friends and relatives for help only endangers those close to you. >> you notice they're not leaving. they're continuing to follow you. you want to continue to drive to the closest police station if you're not familiar with the area. you want to go to a place that is highly populated. >> after multiple perilous moments, ronnie finds his way to the miami-dade police station ending the chase, and that's how he learns that his decisions contributed to the problem. >> they started doing an investigation. i was arrested for reckless driving.

>> the other driver is also arrested and the two antagonists run into each other while in temporary custody. the other driver approaches ronnie and apologizes. >> and i told him, i'm sorry too. i feel like we could have handled the situation more maturely. >> ronnie's case is dismissed when the other driver doesn't appear in court. the other driver is convicted of reckless driving and gets two years of probation. if you don't want to become a victim of road rage, remember these key tips. avoid aggressive drivers and don't be one yourself. back off and give the other driver some space. if being followed, drive to a public place and don't escalate disputes with your responses. >> we put a lot of people at risk for no apparent reason for nothing.

even under the best conditions, giving birth is not without risk. and sometimes the best conditions aren't even an option. according to the centers for disease control, in 2014 roughly 3,000 out of 4 million u.s. births happened outside of a home or a medical facility. >> many things could go wrong. the heart rate, for example, of the baby could go down and no one would know. that baby could suffocate or strangulate on the cord or be in another position, other than head down, which could be alarming to an untrained person. >> just 15, jonathan and his wife leisha leave their lake jackson home to a birth center in texas as leisha begins

contractions with her third child. they're 35 minutes away from the birth center when lisa goes into labor. >> my wife had asked me to film this birth because she hadn't actually seen the previous two births, so she wanted to see this one from camera perspective. so i just set it on my leg and i was paying attention to the road. . oh, my water broke, my water broke, my water broke. >> okay. >> true or false? the best indication that a birth is imminent is when a woman's water breaks. the answer is false. there's actually a more simple signal. >> there's sort of a guttural noise that women begin to make that instinctively that is the clue that labor is going to be happening very imminently. it's the moan-groan type of grunt that is the trigger. >> i reached around and felt his

head and that's when i was like, oh, my word, he's coming out in the car. i lost my mind pretty much at that point. i couldn't believe that that was actually happening, and i was like, well, his head's out. i have to push him the rest of the way out because he can't stay halfway in. oh, my god, the baby is out. >> true or false? sitting upright is an optimal position for labor, allowing gravity to assist with the birth. the answer is false. >> when you're sitting, the birth canal a angled. so it doesn't allow for the baby to pass under the pelvic bone to deliver as easily as if mother was leaning back slightly. >> either way, leasha's baby isn't waiting. >> do you want me to stop or do you want me to keep going? >> keep going. >> all right. we had a baby. >> oh, my goodness.

it's a boy. >> it's a boy. >> the baby has arrived. but there are still miles to go before the family is out of the woods. after deciding to keep driving to the medical facility, would you know what to do next? a, cut the baby's umbilical cord. b, pat the baby on the buttocks to stimulate the nervous system. or c, stroke the baby's back to clear the lungs. >> do not cut the umbilical cord. let the umbilical cord continue to pulsate. and what that does is continues to improve circulation to the baby, it brings oxygenated blood to the baby. if you cut the umbilical cord in a setting where it's not clean or sterile, it can lead to infection to the baby. >> if you want to deliver safely, option c is your best bet. >> one of the first things when we do with when we birth a baby,

we rub the baby's back up and down. it moves fluid out of the lungs and stimulates crying. then you can gently suction cover the baby's nose and mouth. to suction out the mucous and fluid. >> it's got to be suctioned. it's crying babe. it's breathing. it's fine. >> once you're sure the airway is clear, the next thing should be to bring the baby up to your chest for skin-to-skin contact. >> you remove your top, put the baby right on your chest. that will regulate body temperature and breathing. heart rate. >> they arrive at the birthing center 15 minutes after the birth from they see the midwife and cut the umbilical cord. their new baby boy is perfectly healthy. so josiah.

>> we're kind of glad, you know, that people actually get to see a real birth and not just what's portrayed on movies. women are strong and god made them to have babies and you can have a baby just like that. >> if you ever face an unassisted birth in an emergency situation, remember these split second tips to increase your chances of a healthy outcome. immediately call 911. listen for the mother's guttural moans. once a baby is born, do not cut the umbilical cord. stroke the baby's back and suction fluid from the mouth to clear the lungs. follow these split second tips and ensure the baby's actual birthday is a happy one. >> we just had a baby. >> we did it. high five, babe. >> a lot of screaming, a lot of asking for help. no one knew what to do. >> how would you escape a crushing stampede? [ piercing sound ]

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about my african roots. the ancestry dna results were really specific. they told me all of these places in west africa. i feel really proud of my lineage, and i feel really proud of my ancestry. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story, get started for free at ancestry.com it can happen in an instant. a large crowd of people starts to surge and before you know it you're caught in a human stampede. in september of 2015, a crowd crush at the religious hajj pilgrimage to mecca kills more

than 2,400 people. in the u.s., stampedes can explode at sporting events, rock concerts, even black friday sales. and once mob rule takes over, it can be hard to know what to do. >> being in a crowd crush is so terrifying because there's a lack of ability to freely move or make decisions or do anything for yourself. you are at the mercy of the crowd. >> june 2010, nearly 200,000 people pile into the los angeles coliseum for the two-day electric daisy carnival. on the second day, hundreds of people try to rush the stadium infield to get closer to the stage, creating a potential deadly bottleneck in the stage's corridors. andrew alvarez was there when it began and started filming. >> we were dancing, we were

having fun, and i looked to my left and people were trapped on top of each other. >> with thousands of pounds of combined weight crushing down, time is quickly running out. assuming your arms are free, what action should be your first priority? a, scream and wave for help. b, curl into a fetal position and protect your head with your arms. or c, use your hand signals to get people to back up. >> a lot of screaming, a lot of asking for help. no one knew what to do. the loud music made it really hard to hear the people screaming. calling for help, people on the other side would have no idea what was going on. >> if you're in the middle of the crowd crush, the last thing you should be yelling is help. we know that you need help. you should be giving direction. that's going to be a back up. give us space, everybody move back, take two steps, something that's actionable that everyone can do. >> back up! back up! back up! >> you can also use sign

language if you can. if you go like this, everyone knows this means move back or stop. >> the answer is, c, signal people to back up as your next move should be option b. cover up. >> if you're at the bottom of the pile, you cover yourself, you cover your head, you cover your extremities, you want to give yourself room to breathe, don't wiggle, don't scream. >> as the crush intensifies, the scene at the festival is now frantic. >> i was fortunate not to be in this pile. i was fortunate enough to be hurt. it definitely showed me how wrong things can go. one person falls, the other person falls after and then it becomes a whole pyramid of people on top of each other. it got gruesome, there's blood, there's people passed out. >> true or false? if you're watching a crowd crush, your most helpful action is to pull people from the bottom of the pile, the people who are being crushed the hardest. the answer is false. it's best to pull people out from the perimeter, not the

bottom of the crowd pile >> it like peeling an onion. you have to go from the top and work your way down to the bottom of the pile. >> besides everyone trapped in the corridors and being trampled, people were running jumping fences and running away from the police. >> so if you're caught standing in the middle of a dense crowd and it begins to surge, what is your best split second decision? a, create a circle of safety around yourself by spreading out your arms and legs. b, stay in the middle and firmly stand your ground. or c, go with the flow of the crowd and work your way diagonally to the perimeter. with your mob closing in, your instinct may be to fight for space. >> when the mob is closing in, you actually have physical force closer in than you do if your sends arms are extended. that should keep a little bit of air, a little bit of space between you and the person next to you. >> a is not a good option. so how about staying put in the middle of the crowd?

>> trying to stand your ground against a crowd is like trying to fight off 100 people coming at you at the same time. it's just not a smart decision. >> there's only one correct action and that's c. ride the flow of the crowd and move diagonally to the perimeter. >> if the crowd is swinging to the right, you should probably start moving to the right in that same direction. if you're in the middle of a heavily flowing river, you're going to be swept down river, but if you can swim closer to the bank, you're going to get closer to safety. >> after a hoeffel our of mayhem, order is resoared at the carnival. roughly 100 people are taken to hospitals. >> you're there to have the best time of your life. you're jumping up and down and the last thing you expect is this carnage on the floor. >> one of the most important things to be aware of is good, strong, situational awareness. you need to be attuned to what's happening around you. >> for your best chance of surviving the crush, go with the

flow of the crowd and work your way diagonally to the perimeter. if you can't get up, assume the fetal position. use hand signals to get people to move back. there's not always safety in numbers. so remember these crucial split second tips if you want to stand out from the crowd. trapped beneath a burning wreck. >> stuck under the door! only seconds to spare. >> one, two, three, lift. >> can this man be saved? >> the last thing you want to do is stand here and watch this guy not make it. >> and later -- >> give me the rope from under the seat. now! >> it just totally turned into chaos and panic. ♪ is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the season of audi sales event is here.

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this is our community, this is where we live. we need to make sure that we have a beautiful place for our children to live. together, we're building a better california. i'm richard lui. breaking news this hour. continuing to follow oakland, california. nine people confirmed dead after a huge fire ripped through a warehouse during a party last night. right now 25 people still unaccounted for. we're watching that.

also, cambridge, massachusetts. firefighters working to contain a ten alarm fire. en2k3wu6 engulfed eight structuring including a church. two people sustained minor injure yous. for now, back to "split second decision." 911. >> i just saw an accident and the car looks like it might be on fire. >> it's one of the most terrifying things you can experience on the road. vehicles burning out of control, on the verge of exploding. the stakes are higher if someone is trapped inside. experts say these dangerous fires happen at a rate of 200,000 vehicles a year on u.s. highways alone, and tragically those fires kill an average of around 300 people. experts always advise waiting for firefighters in situations like these, but sometimes when

lives are on the line, you just can't wait. in anchorage, alaska, a police officer raise races to the scene of an accident. >> we start off as a vehicle rollover. we get about halfway there and it even worse than he thought. the man's arm is pinned beneath the burning wreck. he can't budge and with the flames growing, there's no time to waste. >> you can't sit around all day and draw up the perfect plan. >> true or false? it takes roughly seven to ten minutes for a burning car to explode. the answer is false. experts say a burning car can explode at any second. so if you're counting the clock, you're wasting your time. >> please help me! >> the last thing you want to do is stand here and watch this guy not make it. that's not an option. you've got to get him out. >> and it's not just the searing flames he needs to worry about. >> it gets very hot.

but that's not the only issue. when all the materials of the car let off gas, it's very toxic. >> firefighters call the toxic fumes from the interiors of car fires the breath of hell. put yourself in the officer's position. how would you rescue a man trapped between a burning car? a, slowly drive your own vehicle into the overturned wreck to flip it right side up. b, focus on the fire first, using your fire extinguisher to douse the flames, and c, find others to try to help you lift the car. >> maybe i can get my car and try to push it, but there really wasn't enough of an embankment or a ditch where i could push it where it could tip down where he would move. >> at best, this option won't work. at worst, you risk catching your own car on fire. as the toxic smoke fills the air and the fire grows, instinct may say to extinguish the flames.

but is that even possible? >> we don't have fire extinguishers in all the vehicles. some do. some don't. in this situation, the people that were standing by, they had already tried to use one on the engine and it wasn't effective. the fire was just too much. >> engines have gas, rubber, and oil and when burned can produce temperatures up to 1,700 degrees, as hot as molten lava. and infernos like these require specific retardant solutions and lots of it. so cross option b. off your list. these leave this one for the firefighters. >> all right, we're going to try to lift it up. where's your arm trapped, sir? >> we're going to try to lift this vehicle. maybe we can pick it up just enough that he can get his arm out from wherever it's stuck and we can get him out of the vehicle. >> with no other choice, the officer finds his answer. c., lift the car. >> right here. ready -- one, two, three, lift! go, go, go, go! go!

>> at first the car just slides along the ground and they're running out of time. >> read? one, two -- >> there's not a segment of an academy where like, okay, bystanders 101. what to do when there's bystanders nearby and you need their help. >> the officer needs more people. come here. we need help trying to push this out! a fourth person decides to help, and literally becomes the tipping point. look closely as the trapped driver just barely breaks free. >> he's out of the vehicle. >> everybody back up. back up. >> oh, my good god. >> let's get back from the vehicle. >> but the danger isn't over yet. >> we want to get everybody as far away as possible. plus you want to make way for the responders to come in and do what they have to do. >> exhausted and relieved, the victim collapses in front of the officer's car just as the fire truck arrives on scene. even though approaching a burning car should always be your last resort, if you do have to take matters into your own hands, here are some split

second tips to remember. watch out for toxic smoke and flames. don't waste time trying to extinguish a fire that's already grown too large. locate the victim and pull them from the burning wreckage. and look for bystanders who can assist. >> once i showed up and i asked them to help me, they jumped to it. they were right there and i'm so thankful for that because i couldn't have got the guy out of the vehicle without their help. if they hadn't been there, it would have turned out a lot different than it did. >> go. >> go. >> oh, you guys saved my life. next, an escalator malfunctions and panic is taking over. how would you escape the danger? ? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next.

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millions of people all over the world ride on more than 440,000 escalators every day. but does this modern convenience come at a price? a mother and daughter in china

get their hands caught in the teeth of the moving stairway. here a man gets his foot stuck during a malfunction. a runaway escalator causes a pile up after a philadelphia flyers hockey game. they may seem like freak mishaps, but every year in the u.s., there are more than 12,000 serious injuries due to escalator accidents. and peyton robinson along with his wife and two young children can't forget how their trip on a moving stairway turned into a roller coaster, but not the fun kind. in 2003, they step onto an escalator and into an ordeal. without warning, the conveyor suddenly speeds up. >> the most significant sensory input was a sound, which was a thunking sound.

i still remember very clearly after hearing that sound the escalator started to speed up followed a real sense that we a suddenly accelerating. >> you're a father with young kids on a runaway escalator. what split second decision should you make? a, grab your kids and jump over the side railing. b, grab hold of the handrail and your kids and ride it to the bottom. or: run back up the escalator to the top. in this case, going against the flow is a no-go as runaway escalators follow gravity down. >> the speed of the equipment is great enough in a runaway situation that you really can't run up the stairs. you might grab a child and hold the child to reduce the impact or the affect on them when you land at the bottom. >> option c is out. standing near the top of the escalator with no time to think, peyton picks option a.

>> it was pretty much a bolt in terms of holding the handrail and jumping feet up on the space between the escalator units and my son came after that. >> but experts say you shouldn't pick peyton's path. though they both make it out alive, peyton's son injures his knee and it could have been much worse. of all options, b is the safest. >> the best option is to hold on to the handrails and ride it to the bottom because for most people, all but maybe an olympic athlete, they cannot begin to get off this equipment while it's moving. it's simply moving too fast. >> peyton's wife and daughter do ride the escalator to the bottom where it timely stops, but his wife doesn't let go of the handrail in time. >> when she was gripping the handrail and it ran through her hand and basically burned some of the skin on her hand.

>> four other passengers are treated for minor injuries. but could these accidents have been stopped sooner? true or false? pushing the emergency stop button is the best way to halt a runaway escalator. the answer is false. the problem is a sudden accelerating escalator is what often what happens when the belt of the stairs detach from the conveyor belt. >> there's a stop at each end which stops the motor, but if the escalator equipment has become disconnected from the drive, the button is not going to do anything. >> you see escalators are more than just moving stairs. they're machines that should be treated with the same respect as an automobile. to avoid injury or even death, remember these tips -- hold children closely.

keep a firm grip on the handrail and ride runaway escalators to the bottom and then exit quickly. >> it sort of registered into something that was a wild and crazy experience that we hope doesn't ever happen again. >> an ice-covered lake may look like a winter wonderland, but perils exist just below the surface. it happens dozens of times in the u.s. every year. unsuspecting people plunging through thin ice and succumbing to the frigid water. christmas day 2012. a great opportunity for mickey herman, his wife and two daughters, to film some sledding with their new camera at jackson lake in southern california. >> we noticed the guys taking the tubes were going up a lot higher on the hill, which resulted them going out much further onto the lake that was frozen and getting very close to the part that wasn't frozen. >> look at that big crack. is that a big crack next to him

right there? >> yeah. >> then a sledder skids out too far. the man plunges into the freezing water. >> that's seriously not even funny. >> no, it's not. >> it's a life and death struggle and every second counts. a frozen lake is transformed into havoc. >> it just totally turned into chaos and panic. >> could you save others and yourself? the dr. scholl's kiosk maps your feet and recommends our custom fit orthotic to stabilize your foundation and relieve lower-back, knee or foot pain from being on your feet. find your nearest kiosk at drscholls.com. also available from dr. scholl's: heavy duty support for lower back pain, lightens the impact of every step.

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it's a fine winter's day for sledding at jackson lake on the mountains of southern california. >> we noticed that the guys taking the tubes were going up a lot higher in the hill, which resulted in them going out much further onto the lake that was frozen and getting very close to the part that wasn't frozen. >> look at that crack. is that a big crack right there? >> then a sledder overshoots the ice and lands in frigid water.

if you're a bystander and see people fall through lake ice, first call 911. what should be your next split second decision? a, slowly walk out onto the ice to pull them out. b, stay as close to the shore as possible and throw out some sort of lifeline. or c, form a human chain from land to pull the person out. >> if you happen to see the people fall into the ice, you absolutely should not walk out onto the ice. otherwise you're likely to add to the number of victims in the ice. find out what resources you have available, ropes, extension cords, ladders, long tree limbs, but you don't want to put yourself at risk to get those items to the person in the lake. >> the correct answer is b. stay off the ice, and throw out a long object like a pole, branch or rope. unfortunately, a would-be rescuer makes the wrong decision.

>> somebody hit a branch. >> and becomes the lake's next victim. another friend does the same. >> hey! >> give me the rope from under the seat. under the seat. under the seat! now. there. >> grab that rope. >> he's got it. >> and soon several more would-be rescuers are flailing for their lives in the icy cold water. >> despite the fact that it is human nature to go help your fellow person, stay back. don't just rush in. it's instinct.

you have the override that instinct. >> the situation is getting worse by the second. five people are fighting for survival. >> when the other guys began falling in the water, it just totally turned into chaos and panic. >> now if you're the one breaking through the ice, what's the first action you should take? a, kick your legs and move your arms to improve circulation and stay warm. b, take off heavy winter clothing to stay afloat. or c, swim to the edge of the ice and pull yourself up. >> if you're frantically kicking your legs and moving your arms, all you're doing is wasting energy. >> how about ditching heavy clothing? >> don't worry about removing your clothing. rather than expend your energy on that, try to focus your energy on trying to rescue yourself. >> your best option is, c, swim to the edge of the ice and get your upper body out of the water. many of the people in this video are able to do just that. >> you want to head to the ice where you fell through because ice was obviously supporting you before you fell in, so it's thicker ice beyond that edge where you fell in. once you approach the edge of

the ice, get your arms up on the ice. more of your body you have out of the water, the longer it's going to take for that cold effect to happen. >> but it will happen and that's your next big challenge. some of the jackson lake victims have been in the water for nearly eight minutes. true or false? it takes about half an hour in frigid water to incapacitate a person's muscular coordination. the statement is false. it's way more dire than that. in fact, you may only have a matter of minutes before paralysis sets in. >> you have roughly five to ten minutes before you start losing strength. your body, your limbs, start going numb. then you're not going to be able to hold onto anything. you lose dexterity. you lose all motor control. >> with time running out, bystanders and relatives throw out everything they can. inner tubes and rope.

>> when they're throwing the rope out there, it was landing within two to three feet of where they were, but i think the cold water and the hypothermia was affecting their body movement. they couldn't even kick over to kick to that and get pulled in. >> you're out of the water on the lip of the ice. what now? a, stand up and walk slowly to the shore. b, lie flat and roll away from the ice hole before standing up. or c, get on all fours and crawl your way to shore. >> once you've got yourself up onto the ice, don't stand up. you want to stay prone on the ice, just start rolling away from the edge, get as far from that as you can. if it feels unstable, keep rolling. you'll slowly get to where it's thicker and thicker to where you can stand up and walk off the ice. >> the answer is, b, lie flat and roll away for a safe distance before standing and walking to shore.

finally, the last survivors catch the rope and they're dragged to safety. >> they need to take his clothes off. >> but once on land their troubles aren't over. >> the first thing they did that was great was getting all the wet clothes off the guy. that's just sapping energy and heat from your body. removing that, wrapping him in the blankets, and the gentleman presses his body up against him. he is just like a generator. he's just putting heat into this guy. >> if you ever see someone taking an accidental plunge into freezing water, remember these survival tips: if rescuing someone stuck in ice water, get emergency help immediately. stay back and throw them a long object. if you're in the water, swim back to the edge and pull yourself up. once on the lip of the ice, roll away before standing up. >> i think about how lucky we were to get all those people out

alive. i didn't want my girls to see somebody drown on christmas day. that's what really drove me to try and help them. life can kurn terri turn te an instant how would you survive getting buried alive? >> concrete or something. stone is packed so, so tight. >> a city bus barrels down the highway. even ordinary routines can become struggles to stay alive. >> the doors opening because he won't stop. >> oh, my god. oh my god. oh, my god. >> survival is not game, but you do need a game plan. you've got multiple options, but only seconds to choose. what will be your separate second decision? >> every year millions of americans hit the slopes at ski resorts and